Chimney Fire!

Ironic isn't it. We are all kitted out with the new conduit to go up the chimney and what happens this morning.....? Fire! That roaring sound accompanied by a crackling orange glow that was visible through the gap between the conduit above the stove and the ceiling gave it away. It appeared that because of the incorrect installation, rubbish was able to accumulate just below where the conduit has been terminated inside the chimney (the conduit should have been run all the way up to the chimney pot!) and, not surprisingly, with the high temps of the woodburner it ignited. Although we were able to spray water up into the gap in a vague attempt to quell the temperature, it was still a case for the local pompiers who duly rolled up from Massat. They confirmed it had been confined to the area where the conduit ends and also confirmed that the installation was illegal, so thanks to the former owners for putting our lives in danger. They also confirmed that the conduit had been placed too close to an old beam and other woodwork which makes up the ground floor ceiling/ first floor floor thereby increasing the fire hasard. Fortunately, we caught it soon enough and there is no major damage. Thank goodness we were in when this happened - I can't even contemplate the outcome should we have gone out for the day. So our major project over the coming days is to get the woodburner properly and legally reinstalled so that we can sleep safe.

Money, money, money

Would be nice to have more of it, to be honest, but doesn't everybody say that? Sorted out the winter tyres up at Pamiers today... which is great.... but it would have been nice if the kind garage man hadn't told us, while he had the car on the ramp, that we have a major oil leak....?! NOT what we needed to hear. We checked the oil level which was just on 'Min' so topped it up before heading back to Pissou. Think a visit to M Minitti in Massat will be in order tomorrow ... hopefully it will be something simple like a gasket or something .

While at Pamiers, we also picked up our 10m of piping (conduit flexible) which will be dropped down the chimney and affixed to the woodburner to prevent us from getting asphyxiated by carbon monoxide as a result of the previous owners' bodged attempts at DIY (sorry, 'house renovation' of course) :-( We are just hoping that this will be the last of the dangerous 'nasty surprises' that we come across, but we are not banking on it.

Forecast is looking good for tomorrow - maybe we can get 'up high' or at least 'higher than most' (anybody read "Rum Doodle"??!!). Here's hoping.

Beautiful stuff

It started off well, when I looked out of the door this morning....
...8 minutes later (yes, just 8 mins), the vista was even more impressive as the clouds cleared.......and then this evening we had a truely amazing sunset... - good weather in the offing tomorrow, methinks. I'm not obsessed with Mont Valier, really I'm not ;-) Neither is Andy who has informed me that he is going to climb up and ski down it this winter.... bring it on!

We took advantage of the good weather to stretch our legs on a wee meander in the direction of Tuc de la Coume (1700m ish) which we have down as a possible raquettes route when we get some snow. However, we chose the wrong day to actually WALK the route, as the initial forest trail was a mudbath ... unpleasant and on the steeper sections downright dangerous to be honest. Not a pleasant excursion, but in snow I am sure it is lush! Some good views all the same
Tomorrow is Pamiers to collect the winter tyres and the 'conduit flexible' that we need to make the woodburner's chimney safe. More money.... Hey ho.

A week with no news....?

Yes, I am sorry, truely I am. But not a massive amount of anything terribly interesting to report, to be honest! However, a brief summary is as follows;

Côté Rénovations;
We decided that access to the gear behind the bed up in the attic was problematic. We decided that the medium term plan would be to build some kind of shelving unit on the other side of the room on which climbing gear, skiing gear, mountaineering gear, boots etc could be stored and better organised, which would provide easier and quicker access. But before that could happen, we had to scrim the plasterboards on that side of the room and get a lick of paint on them too. Oh joy! My scrimming and gap filling attempts were largely successful but Andy's battle with the French skimming plaster was the source of much frustration and fury (not for the first time and no doubt not for the last!). I was obliged to follow on, smoothing over the grittiness (is that a word?!) and gouges with ordinary filler. A quick light sand down and a 1/4 of the attic ceiling will be ready for painting. Only three more sections to do!! Hurrah! But will we get it completed before mum and Jamie come out at Christmas......? Watch that space.

Andy has also managed to get the stairwell side of the new section of the attic stud wall plasterboarded and that has made a big improvement to the appearance of the way up to the attic.

Côté exercis;
Wednesday, I needed to stretch my legs, so took the pooch for a quick blast up Estibat (Col de Port to the top, 340m of ascent over 1.5km in 30 mins) then a quick descent down to the left and onto the next ridgeline, where lovely easy running on cow tracks led me eventually back down and round the hillside to the path that I had taken up to Estibat. It was a pleasant hour out in good, still but chilly conditions. Everything seemed to be working well and I felt that I could have done the whole thing again.

Today is Sunday and the day dawned dull, cold and very overcast.... not a day to 'go high' we thought so instead, as a bit of a leg stretch, we did the route from Massat along the Chemin des Diligences to Biert and back (9km in total). Lovely, easy running (well, jogging!), pretty much on the level and on good terrain. The icing on the cake was a sign on the Chemin, pointing up the hillside which said 'site d'escalade, Grotte Superieure', several routes from 5a to 7b apparently! We had no idea that this climbing was on our doorstep so now we just have to get hold of the topos from somewhere and get up there :-) Bonus!

Côté méteo;
Hmm, although snow appears to be down to around 1100m and it is certainly colder than last week, no more snow is forecast, so we may not get a chance to play with our new kit in the foreseeable future after all :-( Patience, dear girl, patience!

Visit to the ski resort...

.....no, not to ski (it isn't open yet!) but to check the area for ski de randonnée possibilities. Guzet Neige is at just over 1500m and there was certainly a good covering on the ground and temperatures were ensuring that it did not melt. We parked up and headed in the direction of the signposted footpath which would take us up to over 1700m. Almost immediately we realised that conditions underfoot would have been perfect for our skis and skins! We walked up to the highest chairlift from where we had fantastic views in all directions. But high level cloud was coming over from the Spanish side of the Pyrenees which we took as a warning of snow to come.The unpisted slopes were taunting us.... ... a couple of what would be good blue runs led back down to the main ski station, the snow was perfect and there were relatively few people around considering it was the weekend. We decided to make every effort to return to Guzet over the coming week (if conditions hold), before the slopes open to the public, in order to familiarise ourselves with our new kit and for me to gain some confidence before we head into a less 'controlled' environment.

We were treated to an amazing sunset this evening, the likes of which I have not seen since we arrived at Pissou....A portent of more fine weather to come we hope.

Winter stuff

We didn't have any more snow overnight and the day dawned crisp and clear. No way were we going to stay at home today! The tops looked like there was a good covering over 1200m, so we reckoned a brisk walk this afternoon up the zig zags to the Cabane des Roses (a 20 min drive from Pissou) would be a good idea, just to 'dip our toe in the water' and see what conditions were really like. The answer was..... perfect!This was the dog's first real outing in snow and he loved it

The snow was only 3 or 4 inches deep on the lower part of the track but 5 or 6 inches on the upper section at 1600m. it was very loose, dry, powdery snow which had obviously not melted at all since it fell 2 days ago. The track would provide perfect conditions for skiing down.... next time! The air temp was -2 Deg C when we left the car and probably more like -5 or -6 at the top. Out of the sun it was decidedly chilly. On reaching the top, we were rewarded with amazing views of the Pyreneean mountains above Aulus, looking towards Spain.
The coming 2 or 3 days promise more of the same weather, with more snow forecast for next week... can't wait to get out and do more, hopefully on skis next time!

Broke :-(

It's all Andy's fault. No, really it is. The nearest whiff of winter (forecast is for snow over the coming days) and he gets this unsatiable (well, nearly) urge to go buy 'things'! The target this time was Telemark Pyrenees down in Ax-Les-Thermes which is owned and run by a fab English guy called Neil. We bought the B2 mountain skis a month or two ago for a bargain price but they were no good without the bindings or the mohair/nylon skins which would enable us to ski up hills. But of course, we couldn't go up into the mountains without avalanche transceivers (should the worst happen). And what about all these other 'bits and pieces' that we couldn't do without? Well, we may as well get the snowshoes as well then, I chipped in. So that is what we did. The very nice, friendly guys at Telemark have now kitted us out with everything that we need to have some enjoyable and memorable moments up on the hills. Sod the money , tomorrow is another day and all that. I can't wait! Andy, you are forgiven ;-)